CHARTIER, Albert (1912-2004)

Albert Chartier was one of the best Canadian comics artists. He turned to comics after studying fine arts. His first comic was ‘Bouboule’, a Sunday comic which appeared in La Patrie for six months in 1936-37. In 1940, he moved to New York, where he worked as a humorous illustrator for Columba Comics Corporation. During World War II, Chartier was a staff artist at the information office of Ottawa. Albert Chartier created his most popular character in Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs du Québec: ‘Onésime’, a one page monthly strip that ran from November 1943 through to June 2002. For the same magazine, Chartier produced the ‘Séraphin’ series for 19 years – from October 1951 through to September 1970. In 1963-64, he drew ‘Les Canadiens’, a bilingual strip for the Toronto Telegram News Service. Chartier also worked as an illustrator for several magazines and promotional campaigns.